Send a short survey one to two days after the visit, while the patient remembers it and before the next visit blurs it, and route any low score to a person the same business day. In GoHighLevel a survey, a Wait step, and an If/Else on the answer do this. The bottom line: a practice survey measures service and fixes problems quickly, and it is a different tool from the standardized survey that payers and quality programs use.
What the standard survey does
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's CAHPS Clinician and Group Survey asks patients about care over the previous 6 months, and its sampling frame is a list of patients with at least one visit in that period, not a list of visits. AHRQ recommends aiming for a response rate of at least 40 percent, and says data collected by handing the survey to a patient during or right after a visit is not comparable to data collected by mail or telephone. A newer Visit Survey 4.0, in beta, asks about the most recent visit whether it was in person, by phone, or by video. So a survey sent the day after a visit is a practice tool, not a substitute for the CAHPS program, and the practice should not compare its results to CAHPS benchmarks.
The three questions
| Question | Type |
|---|---|
| How would you rate your visit today? (1 to 5) | Rating |
| Was it easy to get an appointment and check in? | Yes or no, with a comment line |
| Is there anything we should fix? | Short text, optional |
Keep the survey generic. It should not ask about the reason for the visit or the diagnosis, and the link and the text should carry no health information.
Survey and review request are different
A survey that sends happy patients to a review site and unhappy ones to a private form is review gating. Google's policy, as quoted by review vendors, prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews, and the FTC's 2024 reviews rule addresses suppression. Send review requests to every patient, separately, as our review guide explains, and let the survey be a service tool.
Build it in GoHighLevel
A third party guide describes GoHighLevel surveys as embeddable multi step questionnaires, and the help page on conditional logic in forms and surveys describes actions that respond to answers. Confirm the details in your account.
- Create a survey with the three questions and a thank you message.
- Build a workflow with the Appointment Status trigger set to Showed Up that waits one day.
- Send the survey link by text or email, depending on the patient's documented preference, with generic wording.
- Add an If/Else on the rating. A rating of 1 to 3 creates a task for the practice manager due the same business day.
- Tag the contact Survey completed, and stop the workflow.
- Review the answers monthly, and record one change the practice will make.
Survey timing options compared
| Timing | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| In the office, on a tablet or card | High response, and the patient is present | AHRQ says survey data collected during or right after a visit is not comparable to mail or phone data, and patients may feel watched |
| One to two days later by text or email | Fresh memory, and time to fix a problem quickly | Lower response than in office |
| Weeks later by mail or phone, as in CAHPS | Standardized and comparable | Slow, so a problem cannot be fixed while the patient is still upset |
Before electronic surveys, practices left comment cards at the front desk or mailed a vendor survey weeks after the visit. The next day survey sits between the two. It is quick enough to fix a billing mistake or a long wait while the patient remembers it, and it avoids the pressure of being asked in the office. A practice that also takes part in a formal CAHPS program should keep the two separate and not mix their results.
Worked example
For example, a practice that sees 1,000 visits a month and gets a 20 percent response gets 200 answers (1,000 times 0.2). If 10 percent are low scores, that is 20 patients (200 times 0.1) the practice manager can call, and every one is a chance to fix a problem before the patient leaves.
Mistakes to avoid
- Comparing results to CAHPS. The methods differ.
- Sending only happy patients to review sites. That is gating.
- Asking about the diagnosis. Keep it generic.
- Ignoring low scores. Assign a task with a deadline.
How this was handled before
Practices handed out comment cards or mailed a survey weeks later through a vendor. The CAHPS program standardized the mailed survey, and a short survey sent a day after a visit gives a practice faster feedback it can act on.
What to measure after launch
Track surveys sent, responses, low scores, and low scores followed up within a business day. Review a sample of low score follow ups monthly.
Check before you switch it on
US text messages sent from a standard 10 digit number need A2P 10DLC registration. The HighLevel support portal says registration is required for texts to US recipients from 10 digit long code numbers and that toll free numbers do not require it. HighLevel's opt in guidelines also say a person cannot be forced to agree to text messages in order to submit a form, so keep the consent box optional. One compliance guide separates informational texts, which need documented consent, from marketing texts, which need prior express written consent. Ask your attorney which category your reminders fall into. Have your privacy officer approve the survey wording and where responses are stored. This is general information, not legal advice.
Questions people ask
What reference period does CAHPS use?
Version 3.1 asks about the previous 6 months. The Visit Survey 4.0 in beta asks about the most recent visit.
What response rate does AHRQ recommend?
At least 40 percent for the CAHPS Clinician and Group Survey.
Should a survey send happy patients to review sites?
No. Selective solicitation is review gating. Send review requests to every patient.
Ready to try it yourself? Start a GoHighLevel account here.
You can also see this in action in our GoHighLevel capabilities demo.